David L. Green

David Leslie Green, whose leadership and guidance strengthened the foundations for artistic and cultural communities, died on February 10, 2025, in Bridgeport, Connecticut, USA. He was 74.

The cause was complications related to cancer, his family said.

David joined the Cultural Alliance of Fairfield County (CAFC), a regional service organization designated by the State of Connecticut's Office of the Arts, in 2013 as Director of Programs, creating and sustaining programs for over 600 member cultural organizations, artists, and businesses, including providing networking, marketing, advocacy, and professional development opportunities. He furthered CAFC 's influence by initiating and leading the Fairfield County Preservation Network, the Progressive Gallery Tour, numerous regional conferences, and Savor City (visits to Bridgeport restaurants that hosted music and art). From 2017 to 2023, he organized and hosted more than 80 live radio interview shows on WPKN.

Soon after David was appointed Executive Director of CAFC in January 2020, the world shut down with the onset of COVID-19 and the uncertainty of the global pandemic. David pivoted, starting weekly community calls on March 25, 2020. These facilitated peer conversations acted to galvanize and strengthen the regional cultural community as everyone struggled with looming financial crises, emergency funding options, the immediate need for virtual programming, understanding re-opening restrictions, and more.

"His initiatives deepened our ties. He established working groups focusing on topics needing multiple viewpoints and expertise," said Kimberly Henrikson, Executive Director, Center for Contemporary Printmaking. "[Members] found that while many of us are the sole contact within our organizations responsible for strategic projects and program oversight, we are not alone across organizations. . . . When the pandemic happened, David's efforts gathering us all together on Zoom to identify funding sources and get clarity on operational restrictions brought us all closer, and those ties remained in place through these subsequent years."

In May 2023, David was honored to receive the Hero Award from The Norwalk Arts Space, presented to him as a "tireless supporter of the arts."

After retiring in September 2023, David joined the board of the CT Arts Alliance, the statewide arts advocacy coalition. As an independent "culture connector," he tapped into his extensive network of artists, executive directors and cultural advocates across Fairfield County. He worked to connect individuals, create synergies and activate key projects that brought the arts and cultural community together. In 2024, he helped launch a new and innovative organization, The HIVE by Beechwood, founded by Jeanine Esposito and Frederic Chiu, with the mission to create a "Human Pollinator Pathway" across Fairfield County.

"As with everything David Green believed in, he dove right in with his special brand of unflagging enthusiasm, commitment, support, professionalism and authentic advocacy for The HIVE that he exhibited with other organizations." said Jeanine and Frederic. "We've both started organizations before, but it is impossible to overstate the impact, importance and pure joy of David's help and input toward this launch. He was not only a colleague, but a friend and we know he will be with us in spirit throughout this first year and beyond."

David was long a dedicated organizer and community builder throughout the arts and cultural landscape. After managing the New York Office for the British American Arts Association in 1984, he worked with the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA), first in Artists Fellowships and then as NYFA's first Director of Communications. He also published the monthly British Arts Calendar, a guide to British arts and cultural events in the New York area, from 1985 to 1992. In 1996, he was appointed founding executive director of the National Initiative for a Networked Cultural Heritage, a national advocacy nonprofit in Washington, DC, creating common ground across 120 national arts and culture organizations, librarians, educators, artists, scholars, and technologists, as they explored the conditions for their participation in the emerging World Wide Web.

From 2003 to 2013, he ran consultancy Knowledge Culture and served on the board of directors of the Visual Resources Association Foundation. David's clients included the National Institute for Technology and Liberal Education (NITLE), Wesleyan University, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Cleveland/Case Western Reserve University's Baker-Nord Center for the Humanities, the Institute of Museum and Library Service, the International Foundation for Art Research and the North East Document Conservation Center.

David is the author of A Museum Guide to Digital Rights Management, (Canadian Heritage Information Network, 2010). Additional publications include "What Good are Artists?" (with John Reaves, Journal of Business Strategies, 2010), "Digital Technologies And The Management Of Conservation Documentation in Museums" (Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, 2009), "Things To Do While Waiting For The Future To Happen: Building Cyberinfrastructure For The Liberal Arts" (with Michael Roy, Educause Review, July/August 2008), "Cyberinfrastructure and the Liberal Arts" (ed.) (Academic Commons, December 2007), and i-Quote (Globe Pequot, 2007).

David was born in Cambridge, England, where he attended The Perse School. He received a B.A. (Hons) from the University of Warwick, spent a year abroad at Duke University, and earned an M.A. at the University of London. He returned to the U.S. for graduate studies and was awarded an M.A. and Ph.D. in American Studies by Brown University. Later, he earned an Advanced Certificate in Management and Systems from New York University.

In his personal life, David delighted in exploring the arts and the outdoors with his family. He shared music with his three sons: he appreciated his son Ben's electronic music and performances, treasured memories of Will's percussion recitals in school bands and with the Jim Royle Studio, was the dedicated music parent for Harry's Suzuki violin lessons, and journeyed to Atlanta in 2024 for Harry's final college music concert. Visits to MoMA, the Whitney, and The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum defined their childhoods, and weekend trips were pilgrimages to museums or architectural landmarks. All enjoyed hiking together on nearby Connecticut trails. David's well-tended garden was an abundance of native plants he selected to resist the abundance of native backyard wildlife.

David is survived by his wife of 36 years, Maureen Graney, sons Benjamin Leslie Graney Green of Brooklyn, NY, William Frederick Graney Green of Fairfield, CT, and Harold "Harry" David Graney Green of Brooklyn, NY, brother and sister-in-law Paul Trevor Green and Eng-Li Green of Carson, New Mexico, and many beloved in-laws in Hartsdale, Brooklyn, and Garden City, NY, and Cascais, Portugal. David was predeceased by his father George Leslie "Les" Green and Betty Edith (Chambers) Green Bobryk of Cambridge and Thurleigh, England.

A Celebration of Life is planned for April 5, 2025, in Norwalk, Connecticut. Please contact the family for details. Instead of trees or flowers, please make memorial donations to The Norwalk Art Space (thenorwalkartspace.org)

Photo courtesy of Lorie Lewis.